Motivation for work: the social representations of employees from Carochinha Day Nursery - São Paulo University (USP) in Ribeirão Preto (SP)

• Grant number: 12/12494-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: March 01, 2013
• End date: February 28, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Administration
• Principal Investigator: Valquíria Padilha
• Grantee: Júlia Antunes de Arruda Lopes de Oliveira
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Economia, Administração e Contabilidade de Ribeirão Preto (FEARP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This project, which is part of a theoretical framework that combines knowledge of social psychology and sociology, aims to identify and understand the social representations of employees' motivation from Carochinha Day Nursery - São Paulo University (USP) in Ribeirão Preto. I understand, from Serge Moscovici and Denise Jodelet, those (such) social representations correspond to the ideas, beliefs, symbols, practices, and values that a group of people shares, from a social and material context, on a given subject or situation. However, in this research, I understand that the people who occupy different positions within the same organization - heads and non-heads - do not share the same social representations concerning the motivation for work. To confirm this premise or not, two groups of workers will be analyzed: those who occupy positions of command (heads, directors, and coordinators) and those in positions of obedience (technicians and educators). From the contact with those workers, through interviews, focus groups, and critical dialogue with the main theories of motivation within the organizational environment, it will be possible to understand the social representations built by each group and how they reflect in the actions, feelings, and relationships of daily work in the Day Nursery. (AU)